She said: "It [the mast] is covering an area quite far away so it's going to be high wattage. There's never been any proof about them causing illnesses but I've got two small children . . . it's not a risk you can afford to take."

Cllr Heather Johnson (Con, Woodlands) who presented the petition to the council on behalf of the residents, said of the perceived health risk: "The Stewart Report [an independent report on mobile phone masts] advises caution but the problem is local authorities' hands are tied in that the government has said that the masts can go up."

Neighbours claim the council didn't do enough to let residents know about the proposed mast.

A spokeswoman for the city council's planning control team said: "We send letters out to residents who are most affected by a particular planning application, especially those nearest the site concerned.

"On this occasion, letters explaining the application details were sent to several addresses on Fletchamstead Highway, Broad Lane and Dunchurch Highway." She also said notices were put in the local press and on lampposts.

A spokeswoman for T-Mobile said: "Without a network of base stations, mobile phones simply do not work."

She said the company under-stood there could be concerns when locating base stations in neighbourhoods, but added: "Based on over 40 years of research, T-Mobile is confident that its base stations, operating within strict national and international guidelines (recognised by the World Health Organisation) do not present a health risk to any member of the public."

She added that T-Mobile made every effort to minimise the impact on the environment. ..SUPL: